


Just a Dream

by Anishwizarding



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Thor (Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-20
Updated: 2017-08-22
Packaged: 2018-09-25 17:24:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9833942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anishwizarding/pseuds/Anishwizarding
Summary: Sometimes dreams are just a warning sign of what is to come.





	1. Chapter 1

The white powder falling from the sky stuck to Darcy’s dark strands and blurred her vision. The iced over snow on the ground cracked under her boots, filling the silence with little pops. As she continued walking through the empty woods, she couldn’t help the feeling of being watched.  
Glancing over her shoulder, Darcy could have sworn she saw a dark figure duck behind a tree.  
“It was probably just a deer.” She whispered to herself.  
In front of her, she could see a light in the distance and smoke that appeared to be coming out of a chimney. If she could just make it to the building, she was sure she’d be fine.  
The snapping of a twig caused Darcy to whip around. This time she was sure that it wasn’t just her imagination. There had been something there.  
She looked out into the night for a few seconds more before shaking out her shoulders and forcing herself to turn back towards the direction of the building.  
As soon as she turned, she came face to face with a pair of blue eyes.

Darcy’s eyes flew open, her chest heaving, adrenaline coursing through her veins. Lately, she’d been having nightmares but the man had never gotten that close to her.  
She forced her legs to swing over the side of her bed and she brought her hands up to her face, rubbing her eyes and running her fingers down her face. The lack of sleep was beginning to take a toll on Darcy and she was wishing she could have one night of sleep where the man didn’t haunt her dreams.  
For as long as Darcy could remember the man’s face had been a part of her dreams. She would see the back of his retreating form turn a corner or barely make out his head of shaggy brown hair in a crowd. Often, she would end up following him, unsure why. She had always assumed it was just her subconscious telling her there was a man she was chasing after, though she couldn’t think of who that would be.  
As soon as she would catch up to the man, he’d whip around to face her, his blue eyes would pierce into her own. The eye contact never lasted more than a second before she would wake up gasping for air in her bed.  
The dreams would change but his presence never did. Recently though the dreams had been taking a more violent twist. Instead of her usual dreams of florescent lit lecture halls and warm, homey coffee shops, she was now dreaming of strange places, violent situations and death. They’d also changed from her following him, to him almost hunting her. Darcy was sure that it was due to her new job at Shield and her recent association with the Avengers but she figured it was just her overactive imagination trying to scare her.

Darcy sighed as she shoved the thick sweater sleeves up her arms. There were mountains of reports taking up valuable space on her desk and she had finally grown sick of it, determined to organize them or light them on fire. She hadn’t decided which was the better option.  
“Lewis, conference room, ten minutes. Make sure you bring Foster.” Tony Stark called from his side of the massive lab before pausing to look back at her “And leave the laser in the desk this time, ‘kay?”  
“Yes sir.” She replied, giving a mocking salute.  
Tony rolled his eyes and walked away.  
She and Stark had been forming a strange relationship. Darcy tried her hardest to get on his nerves but it seemed like no matter what she did, it only earned her an eye roll and a sigh. Darcy was determined to at least make his face turn the same shade of red as his suit.  
Gathering up the remaining papers on her desk and dumping them in the nearest trash bin, she walked over to the door of Jane’s office. “Alright, enough sciencing. Boss man wants us in the conference room.” She paused for a few seconds, waiting for some sound of life. “Jane, do not make me come in there. We both know how that’ll go down.”  
Darcy finally heard a rustling of paper, signaling that there was life on the other side of the door. “You have five seconds.” Darcy bellowed. “Five, four, three…”  
“Okay, okay, I’m here.” Jane huffed as she opened the door. There were lines on her face outlining the edges of the files she had fallen asleep on. “I still don’t understand why Stark wants us in these stupid meetings. I have better things to be spending my time on.”  
Linking her arm with the skinny scientist, Darcy grinned. “You mean sleeping on your floor?” Jane’s face turned a bright pink and Darcy rolled her eyes. “Sciencing can wait. Let’s go see what the Man of Iron has to say.”  
“If he starts this meeting with a twenty-minute Black Sabbath sing along again, I’m going to hit him with my van.”

The spacious conference room was filled with faces Darcy was used to only seeing on her laptop screen. Large windows allowed sunlight to stream through, causing Darcy to squint behind her glasses.  
On one end of the table, the oh so delicious Steve Rogers sat flexing his fingers on his right hand. Next to him sat Natasha, her face, normally closed off and blank, was threatening to crack in half as she laughed at a joke that Clint had told her. On the opposite side of the table, Dr. Banner attempted to hide behind his cup of tea and Thor was gazing intently out the window. As the pair walked in, Thor’s eyes flicked to Jane and his face lit up.  
“Lady Jane! And Lady Darcy! Hello!”  
Darcy couldn’t help but draw comparisons between him and a golden retriever. “What’s up big guy?”  
Jane sunk into the seat next to him before glancing back at Darcy and nodding to the seat across from her.  
Stark sauntered in before Thor could reply.  
“Alright, Avengers Assemble.”  
A collective groan rose from the group.  
“Why are we all here, Stark?” Steve asked.  
“That Captain, is a great question.” He glanced over at Jane and Darcy, as though he had just noticed them. “Well look what the cat dragged in. Not often I see you out of the lab Foster.”  
“It’s Doctor Foster. Believe me, I’d rather be anywhere but at this table.” Jane’s small frame was closed off and Darcy could tell that she was annoyed. “Which is why I want to know why it’s so important that Darcy and I attend this meeting.”  
“He just missed our gorgeous faces Janey.” Darcy said as she winked at Tony.  
“You’re right. Well not really but I’ll let you have that one Lewis.” Tony turned his attention to Steve. “Actually Dr. Foster, I am giving you and Darcy a new project.”  
“Project? Stark I don’t know what you have in mind…”  
Tony raised a finger, signaling Jane to pause. “Steve, where’s Bucky?”  
Steve looked incredibly uncomfortable. “He’s going to be a little late. He should be here any minute.”  
Darcy’s eyes went wide. “Wait, so you mean your best friend, the infamous Winter Soldier is about to be here? In this room? With us?”  
“Yes?” Steve asked more than said his eyes narrowing.  
“That’s so awesome!” Darcy squealed. Darcy remembered hearing about his unit, the Howling Commandos in her history classes and she’d heard the Avengers talk about him but she had yet to meet the illusive character. Shield had been pretty good about keeping his photos off the internet as well so any time she had attempted to look him up, the results only came up with blurry photos of the back of his head and images of the damage he had caused.  
“What does the Winter Soldier have to do with us being here?” Jane glared at Tony.  
“Well, Foster, to be entirely honest, I need your help. You made all of the weird equipment that you were using in New Mexico, right?”  
Jane glanced at Darcy. “Yes?”  
“Well I need your help coming up with a solution for a technical issue I’m having.”  
Suddenly, the door to the conference room swung open. In the door way, stood a dark mane of hair that Darcy was no stranger to.  
The man paused before entering, examining the room and those within it before his piercing blue eyes came to settle on Darcy.  
Darcy’s eyes were wide as she stared back at the man who had been haunting her dreams for over a decade. “Holy shit.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, hello!  
> So I'll be honest, I never intended to continue this story. However, everyone seemed to so enjoy the first part that I posted so I've decided to continue it. I've gotten at least two more chapters done but I am going to spread them out over a couple of weeks and hopefully continue to work on the story.  
> I'm also working on making the chapters longer so if I take a little while to post, that's likely why.  
> If you continue to leave reviews, I'll continue to write!
> 
> So I am very sorry for the lengthy wait but here is the next chapter!

Darcy really wished she could say she had stood her ground in the conference room and faced the man head on but instead, she was hiding in a food pantry located within the lab floor’s kitchen.  
It had taken all of five seconds for Darcy to scramble out of her conference room chair and out a side door. She hadn’t paused when she heard Jane calling after her and had ignored the numerous messages she’d received on her phone from both Jane and Stark. Darcy needed a second to collect herself, recenter, and eat about five more cosmic brownies before she was ready to face the nightmare man again.  
On the other side of the door, she could hear movement. Someone was walking up to the pantry. The movement paused, as though the person was looking around the kitchen, when suddenly the pantry door was yanked open. Darcy flinched, forcing her eyes shut. She was worried that the person in front of her was going to be the man she was hiding from. Luckily when she forced herself to open them, she found that standing before her, in all of his godly glory, was Thor.  
A laugh boomed from somewhere deep in his chest when he saw the brownie in her hand and called over his shoulder to Jane. “Lady Darcy is here.”  
“Here? As in the pantry?” Jane screeched as she rushed past the hulking man and came to a stop in the doorway. “Darcy, what on earth are you doing?”  
Darcy gulped down the last bit of her brownie before smiling sheepishly. While she could imagine that the sight in front of them was amusing, the look on Jane’s face was not. “These brownies are really out of this world, Janey.”  
Jane groaned, puckered her face and stuck out her hand. “Come on, let’s go back to your apartment. We need to talk.”

The lofty apartment was quiet as the three entered. In the corner, a curtain was blowing in the breeze, billowing around a window that Darcy had forgotten to close as she left for work this morning. Jane had told her that most of the Avengers, including Barnes, had left to start scouting out a new HQ location but Thor had stayed behind to help locate her. Natasha had volunteered to stay and help look but Jane had insisted that they could handle it. Darcy was glad. She had made the mistake of letting Natasha know her favorite hiding place once and she was sure that the redhead would have found her within a few moments of her disappearance.  
“A lot of people were very confused about what happened today.” Jane started before pausing and glancing at Thor. “Have you met James before?”  
Darcy’s mind swirled. Something told her that the scientist wouldn’t believe her if she said that the Winter Soldier was a regular in her dreams. Instead, she shrugged. “Guys it was nothing! I swear, I just remembered that the newest episode of Game of Thrones had hit online and I had to go watch it! You know how Tony likes to spoil it for me! I had to beat him to the punch!”  
Jane rolled her eyes. While she had known Darcy to do such outrageous things, she also was able to tell when her best friend was lying. “Is that why we found you in the pantry with half of the tower’s cosmic brownies in your stomach?”  
“Listen Jane, I will not be shamed for my brownie habits. I don’t say a thing about you and your Pop-tarts.” Darcy hoped that if she turned the situation back on Jane, she might be able to escape talking about what had happened for just a little while longer.  
Thor chuckled, “Lady Darcy is quite right, your consumption of those toasted pastries is very worrisome.”  
Jane huffed and pointed her skinny finger at Darcy. “Fine, we’ll drop this for now Darce but eventually we’re going to have to talk about what happened today.”  
Darcy nodded as she walked away from the couple and threw herself onto the soft couch. Yanking down one of the thick flannel blankets she wrapped it around her body before she peeked her head over the back of the couch and called out, “Sounds like a plan boss lady. Now where is the remote?”

 

“So this building has great natural lighting, it really makes you all look better, even you Bruce. Instead of your usual grumpy, you just look tired.”  
The members of the group rolled their eyes. They had spent the last three hours being carted from location to location while listening to Tony take tiny jabs at each person. For awhile now, the team had been discussing whether or not it would be best for the Avengers to relocate their headquarters farther away from the hustle and bustle of the city. There had been numerous attacks targeting the building in recent months and these attacks had raised the question of if the team could really protect the city if there ever came a day that their opponent or the assaults were too much for them to handle.  
Currently, they were standing in an old factory building in the middle of rural New York. While Tony was correct, the light that streamed through the windows made the building seem larger and more pristine, there were too many windows for many team members to feel entirely comfortable in the space. It wouldn’t be hard for any assailants to come crashing through the glass and launch an attack from the inside.  
Tony continued to drone on about the logistics of the location, turning his back to the group and leading them towards another set of doors. Behind him, the Black Widow and the archer had branched off and were quietly discussing who had dinner duties. Dr. Banner had trailed closely behind Stark, grilling the billionaire about possible lab locations leaving Steve and Bucky standing in the open space.  
Steve nudged the side of the man standing next to him, attempting to pull him from his own mind.  
“What do you want, Punk?” Bucky asked as he turned his attention from the wall in front of him to Steve.  
“So what happened back there? Between you and Darcy? I’ve seen her go up against some of the most intimidating guys in the country yet she bolted when she saw you.”  
Bucky shrug his shoulders. “Don’t know.”  
Steve studied his friend’s face for a moment. “Have you ever met her before?”  
Thinking back, Bucky racked his brain trying to piece together any place he and Darcy may have met before. He thought back to his time with Hydra. Had she witnessed one of his many missions? Or had she been on the sidelines during his feud with Stark?  
“I don’t know Steve, I can’t recall ever seeing her. Who knows though, Hydra may have wiped whatever memories I had but I think I’d remember a Dame like her.”  
Steve chuckled. “She is quite the sight. Maybe we’ll try to get the two of you together when we get back. Met face to face. Maybe she was just nervous.”  
Nodding, Bucky returned his focus back to the wall in front of him. He vaguely heard an insult Stark had sent over his shoulder, directed his way but decided to ignore it.  
He had the strange feeling that he and Darcy had indeed met before. But he couldn’t pinpoint exactly where. Hydra had wiped his mind so many times that he could have met the woman a thousand times and still not know it. But this strange feeling didn’t seem like that. It seemed like she’d been a figment of his imagination, a part of his dreams.


End file.
